land.

tonight i am tired.

our days have been so full.

i have a list of 20 blog posts to write and for each post i have around 92 pictures to sort through...

we have been busy soaking up life.

i have blackberry juice in my fridge waiting to be made into syrup.

i have pears that are just about ripe on the counters in my laundry room.

i have buckets and buckets of apples that we picked on Saturday morning- for applesauce (we may have picked them a little too early?!)

tomorrow we are heading to a picnic-- we're bringing orange homemade ice cream (recipe from the coxes) and a fruity salad (recipe from the nelsons).

i didn't go grocery shopping yesterday, so Todd is going to go bright and early tomorrow so our ice cream will have time to freeze... (ugh- still not used to small town shopping- i feel like i never have food.)

tomorrow night we're having a special "back to school" family night...

tuesday is the first day of school for my 6th, 4th and 3rd grader.

i'm taking my 7th grader out to brunch with a couple of his friends... his school starts on wednesday.

oh how i'm craving the schedule of school even though i KNOW i'll miss the carefree days of summer after one week of school lunches and soccer practices!

last week a friend invited us to her home to pick blackberries. 

 

they have 75 acres.

a pond.

a tree with two swings.

barns, a plane, dinosaur bones (her husband is some kind of paleontologist).

baby collie dogs.

and blackberries galore.

as we let our children play day turned into dusk.

they ran and picked and swung and rowed and i kept thinking "this is life."

if i had a million dollars i would buy LAND, beautiful land.

i would have a modest home surrounded by acres of beauty.

for sure.

eve's first food-- fresh picked blackberries.

but, today i don't have 75 acres... so i'm thankful for friends.

oh, life is beautiful!